Editorial: N.Y. legislators don't deserve raise

Jun. 27, 2012

New York Assemblyman Peter Lopez, R-Schoharie, speaks during an Assembly debate June 21 in Albany. Many government watchers expect lawmakers to seek a pay increase, the first in 13 years, after November's election. / AP Photo/Tim Roske

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A Journal News Editorial

Readers weigh in

“Their salary started out as astronomical; no need to bump it up. And while we’re there, let’s remove lifetime medical benefits and pensions.” — Kimberly Cruz (via Facebook.com)

“No legislator deserves any raise anytime soon. I am sure that some work hard for their constituents, but for the most part they are ineffective. … None of them, in all my years born and raised and living in New York state my entire life, have come to grips with the biggest issue that has rankled the people from every side forever but even more so now: solving the way that public education is funded.” — John Taylor (via LoHud.com)

“That is such a scam. They work part-time, hold outside jobs or business interests. Many, like Sheldon Silver, are multi-millionaires. They are overpaid for the little they get accomplished — thank Heaven we finally have a decent and strong governor. I say give them a 20 percent pay cut and make them work more hours.” — Martin W. Schwartz (via LoHud.com)

“They should be entitled to a raise the same way anyone else would get a raise — when there is an actual surplus in the budget. Till then they should be true representatives and suffer like the rest of the American public.” — Steve Groark (via LoHud.com)

“No. They should be grateful they have a job. (What do they do?) Only give them a raise on performance.” — Valerie Carden (via LoHud.com)

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There’s no question that the New York Legislature, once described as the nation’s “most dysfunctional,” has tidied up its act in recent months and catapulted to No. 49 — or maybe even No. 48. But do lawmakers deserve a pay raise, the first since 1998?

The notion is gaining steam and attention, notwithstanding the mountain of evidence arguing against a pay boost: the part-time jobs already pay plenty; the body, however improved the past 18 months, remains a poor excuse for representative government; the lawmakers deserve no better than raise-deprived private-sector workers; the taxpayers are tapped out, after the economic collapse and years of lawmakers’ fiscal missteps.

But those arguments may not rule the day.

Jon Campbell of the Albany Bureau reports that Assemblyman Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie, is among those despondent over lawmakers’ pecuniary status, and among the few unafraid to go public with his concerns. “It’s shameful that the Assembly members have gone (more than) 12 years without a pay raise,” said Miller, who is retiring at the end of the year. “We’ve seen substantial inflation in the price of many things, which means that reflects a substantial reduction in the salaries.”

The last increase, 13 years ago, increased member’s base pay from $57,500 to $79,500; those in leadership positions receive stipends that can push their earnings over six figures — even while many lawmakers hold down full-time jobs as lawyers, accountants, consultants, and who knows what else; newly adopted ethics rules compel legislators to disclose more about their outside business dealings, but not until next year.

Any increase would have been unthinkable in the years prior to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s election in 2010, when late budgets, political coups, corruption, anti-democratic processes, and failure to act on popular legislation were the uninspiring norm. In 2004, a study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School branded the Legislature the nation’s “most dysfunctional.” Better politics and performance in the Cuomo era, including adoption of a tax cap, budget cuts, tax cuts, and a host of Cuomo-favored initiatives, has changed the backdrop for a raise.

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Rumblings about an increase, in all likelihood after the November elections, have reached a point where candidates are speaking out (even when proponents have been mostly silent). Among them is Democrat Shawn Morse, an Albany County legislator vying for the state Senate. Morse announced he would oppose any raise that was not accompanied by an increase in the state’s $7.25-an-hour minimum wage, Capitol Confidential reported.

$8.50 an hour

In the just-completed legislative session, the Democratic-controlled Assembly approved raising the state minimum wage to $8.50 an hour and tying future increases to inflation. The GOP-controlled Senate wouldn’t consider the matter. “It is unconscionable that the legislature would even consider boosting their own pay before giving a modest increase to the hard-working men and women of this state,” Morse said. “I will not accept any increase in legislative salary, and I urge all State Senators and other candidates to join me in this pledge.”

Nick Reisman of Capital Tonight reported that Democratic candidate Chuck Swanick, seeking a Senate seat in Buffalo, also took a stand against a pay raise Reisman said has been the subject of “insistent denials from legislative leaders.” Swanick said, “I will work full time, year round as your State Senator and still feel guilty about the salary, which is why I already announced I will give up my pension if elected.”

But not everyone feels as Swanick does. In a radio interview, Gov. Cuomo said it was “staggering” that lawmakers had gone so long without a raise. “When you say to someone you haven’t gotten a raise in over a decade, it’s a staggering point,” said Cuomo, quoted at capitaltonight.com.

“I understand the point.” Cuomo, who has been adept at pushing lawmakers when he wants to, wouldn’t commit on the issue, stating, “There will be time in the future to discuss it. It’s an academic point right now.”

It ought to stay that way, but probably won’t. There’s already speculation about what Cuomo should seek from lawmakers in exchange for a pay hike. Bill Hammond of the Daily News suggests more pension reform; a change in overly generous collective bargaining law; a boost in the minimum wage; an end to so-called “lulus” – those stipends doled out to legislative leaders. “If history is any guide, lawmakers will make things worse by postponing the pay-raise vote until after Election Day,” Hammond wrote. “But sometimes ugly horse-trading is what it takes for a governor to win real change.”

Here’s a trade we think most voters could live with: lawmakers should vote “No” on any raise, and possibly continue in the grudgingly good graces of the not-soon-to-forget voters. Now still is not the time for a pay grab — not with the economy and taxpayers still on the rebound, and not for these lawmakers, however improved, so soon removed from the ranks of the nation’s worst.